Four
Defendants Indicted for Conspiracy to Distribute Over 8 Million Dosage
Units of Hydrocodone and to Launder Money

(Baltimore, Maryland)
- A federal grand jury indicted the following defendants for conspiring
to distribute, outside the scope of professional practice and not for
a legitimate medical purpose, at least eight million dosage units of
hydrocodone and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection
with the distribution of hydrocodone, announced Assistant Special Agent
in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District
Office Carl J. Kotwoski, and United States Attorney for the District
of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein:

Steven Abiodun
Sodipo, age 50, of Forest Hill, Maryland;

Callixtus Onigbo
Nwaehiri, age 48, of Jarrettsville, Maryland;

Ahmed Alhaji
Abdulrazaaq, age 48, of Forest Hill, Maryland; and

Nannette C.
Patterson, age 48, of Baltimore, Maryland.

The indictment was
returned on October 4, 2006 and unsealed today after the arrests of
the defendants.

All four defendants
are employed at Newcare Pharmacy, also known as Newcare Home Health
Services, located in the 3400 block of Sinclair Lane, Baltimore City.
Hydrocodone is a schedule III, opioid that is prescribed as a cough
suppressant and for the treatment of moderate to moderately severe
pain.

The two-count indictment
seeks forfeiture of $20 million, the amount of gross proceeds received
from the illegal sale of eight million dosage units of hydrocodone
from January 2005 to October, 2006. The indictment also seeks forfeiture
of the homes, bank accounts and motor vehicles of some of the defendants.

"Today's arrest
shut down a pharmacy that illegally distributed in excess of 8 million
($20, 000,000.00) dosage units of the highly additive opiate based
pain killer Hydrocodone", brand name Vicodin, stated Carl J. Kotowski,
Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration,
Baltimore District Office. Kotowski stated that "customers were
just a mouse click away from their dealer, and that this investigation
represents the largest criminal pharmaceutical drug investigation in
DEA Baltimore history”.

The defendants face
a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison followed by 3 years of supervised
release for the drug conspiracy and 20 years in prison followed by
3 years of supervised release for the money laundering conspiracy.
The defendants are expected to have their initial appearances in U.S.
District Court in Baltimore this afternoon.

An indictment is
not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed
innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

United States Attorney
Rod J. Rosenstein praised the investigative work performed by the Drug
Enforcement Administration; Baltimore City Police, Baltimore County
Police, The State of Maryland Pharmacy Board, Maryland Department of
Drug Control, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation; the
Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General;
and the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations. Mr. Rosenstein thanked
Assistants U.S. Attorney Andrea Smith and Jennifer Wright, who are
prosecuting the case.